Hi! After many deliberations with myself, I've decided to publish a collection of one-shots, shorts drabbles and everything that I get inspiration for about our favorite crew. Originally I wanted to do one only centered around Sanji and then, since I will surely have many things that I want to write in the future about every single one of them, why not publish something a bit more general. Rating might evolve depending on what I'll write.

I will accept prompts and ideas, or things that you would like to be written. Angst, humor, character study, specific story or idea, hurt, comfort, something centered about a particular member of the crew or relationships between them, I take it all. No romance though, only gen (except for canon relationships), as long as it is about one of the member of the crew. I don't make any promises as sometimes an idea might not inspire me much but send it anyway, it's always interesting to have requests and prompts.

Please keep in mind that English is not my first language, so spelling and grammar mistakes, blah blah blah.

Title: Death's sweet embrace
Rating: T
Genre: Characters study, slight angst
Word count: 1,591
Warnings: excessive mention of death (obviously), very very very slight spoilers about the recent chapters
Characters: Brook, mentions of the entire crew
Summary: Brook could see things. Something that no else could see, something that surrounded them.

It is said that when someone is living their last breaths, every single moment of their existence will pass before their eyes. For others, they say you will see a light, or someone pulling you to guide you to the unknown. No one can and has confirmed or denied this, as no one can be dead and yet alive to tell the tale.

Brook knew. Brook knew and saw it all. The man remembered the moment his own soul left his body and wandered for so long that time itself didn't exist anymore, only to find a pile of bones with nothing to hold them together. He knew Death and had seen what was 'beyond'. At least he liked to think he did. He didn't know if he truly died and went to what was called 'the other side' because he had no memories of such a thing. Had he doubtlessly died and then been brought back or had his soul just left his body only to aimlessly drift along the waves of this world? Was he dead and alive?

Still, there was a faint memory in his mind. Just before everything went black and his spirit was pulled from his body, he saw something. Like a silhouette reaching out to him, welcoming him to Death's sweet embrace. And a laugh, a playful one that he would sometimes hear when he walked on his ghost ship during decades of loneliness. And every now and then, he swore he could perceive a figure in the corners of the crumbling boat, always reaching out, always laughing, but it quickly vanished when he got closer. Death was toying with him, mocking him for having survived when his only wish was to die alongside his comrades, but what he didn't know is that Death was almost bursting with the desire to get him, the only one who had escaped.

When Brook joined the Straw Hats, he realized that he wasn't the only one that Death yearned for.

He didn't notice right away as he was too overwhelmed with the feeling of sailing again with people he could call his family but he did two years after, when they all got reunited. After a while, he understood that his version of Death wasn't the only one, as each of his crew mates had its shadow surrounding them. He was the only one who noticed the presence, perhaps he was the only one able to see it. So sometimes, Brook opened his eyes without actual eyelids a bit more (Skull joke!) and observed.

Death, when following Usopp, looked very much like an old man that was almost dying himself, with sunken cheeks and glassy eyes, supporting itself on a wooden cane, which looked like it could collapse at any moment, much like its owner. The reaper looked sick and suffering, which made Brook wondered if the sniper's relatives had died from sickness or maybe he should have died from it himself and escaped. Yet, despite its loss, Death wore a sinister grin but never did anything, just following Usopp's steps and did the same for Nami. When it did, it took the appearance of a quite massive man whose face remained hidden ; it was like looking at a dense mist for Brook. He could only notice the sharp and triangular teeth that were constantly smirking. But again, with these two, it never did anything. Just silently chasing and from time to time, it raised a hand to brush Nami's tangerines or Usopp's plants to take life. Death had touched and continued to do so people and things that they held dear but never touched them. It wasn't their time, but Death was patient.

It was much more hostile around Chopper. Appearing as an old witch-like woman, it never approached him too much, just staring and frowning, seemingly resentful towards the reindeer. One could have thought that the sick bay would have been its preferred place in the ship, but it wasn't the case as Chopper was a skilled doctor and had saved so many lives, taking them back right when Death was going to grab them away. Chopper's dream was Death's greatest nightmare and yet it never tried to take him either. Brook wondered why.

Robin's version was like a mirror of herself and the musician wasn't surprised about that. He knew she had killed many to survive without any hesitation, thus becoming one of Death's most valuable supporters and from what she had told him, she had been ready to sacrifice her life to protect the crew once. Nonetheless, this lookalike was becoming more and more disfigured. It walked just beside her, as an equal, but it was starting to fall behind. Perhaps Robin knew she didn't have to kill anymore, only to protect them. Robin had Death for companion, just like Sanji. For him, it was a sweet and delicate looking lady and it was almost a shame that he could not see it as Brook was sure he would have fallen in love with its pure face right away. But its smile was as innocent as it was vicious and it constantly tried to pull him towards it, touching him and putting its thin arms around him like Sanji was embracing Death as his raison d'être. Brook preferred not to ask, Sanji wouldn't understand what he was able to see and the skeleton was almost afraid to do so. Sometimes it was best not to pry his friends' inner demons.

Brook noted with a feeling of pride in his empty chest (Oh, another skull joke!) that Franky, Zoro and Luffy were defying Death's presence without noticing it. For Franky, it was a kid that looked very much like him, bruises and open wounds covering its entire body as if it had been violently hit by something at massive speed, and it never stopped screaming at him, like a child throwing a tantrum. But every time, Franky raised his sunglasses with his thumb and grinned like a mad man in such a way that he seemed to taunt Death, saying "See, you didn't take me when I was a kid. You lost your chance, too bad for you!". For Zoro, it was a slender man with eyes that reminded Brook of a savage bird and it just stared, trying to think of a way to deceive him because it had failed before. Brook remembered this moment very well because he had been a witness to it. Sometimes during his meditation, Zoro would suddenly open his now single eye and fix an empty spot in the crow's nest, sensing something without seeing it. Thus began a staring contest between the two, except that the swordsman wasn't aware of it.

And for Luffy, it was someone much bigger and stronger than him. It was towering him and the captain looked so small next to its figure that Brook couldn't help but think about the stories of his native West Blue speaking of a giant struck down by a mere boy. Because Luffy kept ignoring and moving on, laughing and smiling with defiance because Death couldn't slay the King.

Of course, none of them were able to see it. Perhaps they could sense something around them, but Brook wasn't even sure of that.

As for him, for decades, it kept eyeing him from afar so he wasn't surprised when one night it approached him, both of them staring at the waves and listening to the soft tune he was playing on his violin.

"Hello to you, my dear old friend."

Death chuckled. Old was not even the right word for it, but it was for Brook as it had been the companion that had stayed for the longest time with him.

"After all these years together, you did not change a bit. I quite like the new look though."

Brook titled his hat as a thankful gesture. They did not speak for a few minutes, comfortable with the melody.

"You do realize that I will take them with me one day, don't you? And you won't be able to follow them, as your cursed fruit is stopping me from touching you."

"I do. I will find a way so they won't have to leave me behind."

"I am looking forward to that day."

"..."

"..."

"You had plenty of opportunities to take them away, even before I met them. Why didn't you?"

Death looked pensive for a moment. The skeleton stopped playing, slightly turning towards it. Funny how he looked more dead than Death itself. The latter smiled, a warm smile that had nothing to do with the ones it usually did.

"I guess I am curious of what is going to happen. It's been so long since I've met such interesting people like them. I grew fond of them eventually. Maybe it's why I like toying with them so much."

It sighed, then took a few steps back from the railing, turning its eyes away from the horizon. It slowly got down the stairs, its steps only heard by Brook and no one else.

"Do not worry, I will not bring them with me to what you call the other side. Not yet. I will try to make them live a little more. I've never had so much fun in a while."

In a blink of an eye, it was gone. Brook stayed stunned for a moment. If he had lips, he would have smiled. The Straw Hats, protected by Death itself. What a laughable irony.

Based on a headcanon of mine that Brook can see dead people since he is dead himself, so I expanded a bit around that, trying to explore each of the Straw Hats' relationship with death. Chopper is pretty obvious, Nami and Usopp for the dead loved ones, Robin and Sanji for their respective pasts (and his self-sacrifying personnality for Sanji) and Franky, Zoro and Luffy have survived from something that should have killed them.

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